Introduction

For universities, email is more than just a medium of communication. It’s in fact one of the key elements required for its smooth operation. Everything from admissions, critical updates to students and faculty, and engagement with alumni and key stakeholders depends on it. 

Communicating effectively with such a vast array of recipients (and keeping track of them) requires a robust system in place. While Salesforce is the leading CRM platform on the market today, the sheer volumes of communications a university generates can exceed its limitations. 

The need of the hour is a solution that can overcome these challenges, and if your communication relies on Salesforce. This blog is for you. 

The Communication Challenges Universities Face

Unlike other industries, the educational industry, specifically universities, faces several unique challenges when it comes to communication, such as –

Huge Volumes

Every department in a university has varied communication needs. Admissions need to coordinate with and update thousands of applicants each year. The academic departments need to share critical updates on course details and schedules with students and faculty. The Alumni offices need to send newsletters and fundraising appeals. 

Source

All of the communication, which can amount to sometimes hundreds of thousands of emails each week, needs to be tracked and followed up on if required. 

Salesforce’s Limitations

Now, if your university’s communications rely on a Salesforce ecosystem (which a lot of universities do), they often face hindrance due to Salesforce’s limitations. This forces them to look for alternatives outside of the ecosystem, which then raises a new set of challenges. 

The Drawbacks of Third-Party Tools

The moment you bring in a third-party tool to handle your volumes, you introduce a new set of issues to the mix: the data is now split between multiple tools, which makes accurate reporting difficult.

You then have to retrain your staff on the new tool (which is not always easy). Plus, they are now juggling between multiple systems, which is inefficient. Finally, you have the additional costs associated with using a secondary tool. 

Why Universities Should Turn to a Native Salesforce Solution Instead?

If your university is already operating within a Salesforce ecosystem, moving your communications to third-party tools will only help you work around the email limitation. A native Salesforce solution, on the other hand, will –

  • Become a single source of truth – If your entire communication is within Salesforce, you will have access to all the communication history in this one location. Managing communication will become easier. The best part? You will also ensure that all your teams are working on the basis of the same information. 
  • Eliminate adoption challenges – A native Salesforce solution will save you from all the adoption and transitioning woes that come with introducing external tools to your operation.
  • Simplify reporting and increase compliance – With all your data within Salesforce, generating reports for stakeholders or accreditation agencies becomes a lot easier and accurate. It’s also easier to stay compliant with all sensitive student and university data, no longer being transmitted back and forth to external tools. 

This is where MassMailer comes in. It is a native Salesforce solution that extends Salesforce’s email capabilities without the need to integrate external tools. 

Case Study: A University’s Experience With MassMailer

So what does adopting a native Salesforce solution look like in practice? Here is a real-world example from the University of San Andres. 

The Background of the Case

The University of San Andres, based in South America, was already deeply invested in the Salesforce ecosystem. They were struggling to send large volumes of emails across each of their five business units. 

They relied on external tools to bridge the gap, but suffered from siloed data and reporting inconsistencies. The university wanted to bring everything back inside Salesforce, but with a tool that could handle all of their communication needs.

How Did MassMailer Help?

The university settled on MassMailer as the preferred solution after careful consideration based on positive reviews on Salesforce’s App Exchange. MassMailer was rolled out across all five business units, and it became the primary tool for all communications. 

In addition to the inbuilt campaign management capabilities, the university was now able to use MassMailer’s list views to segment audiences based on custom fields and objects.

Creating templates for all forms of outreach became easier with the template builder built into MassMailer. There is also support for importing HTML designs created by their internal staff when needed. 

As all of this is now happening inside Salesforce, all communication data remains centralized, visible, and easy to track.

The Results

After three years of using MassMailer, the university reported several measurable improvements –

  • Staff adoption improved because teams could work inside Salesforce without learning new tools.
  • Reporting became far more accurate since all communication history stayed in one system.
  • Compliance and data management also became easier, as sensitive student and alumni data no longer had to flow through external platforms.
  • Managing data also became easier with the built-in purge feature that could be customized to the needs of each of the business units. 

In short, MassMailr addressed all their communication pain points in one fell swoop. The university also highlighted MassMailer’s support team’s responsiveness, which made the tool more valuable over time.

What Lessons Should You Take Away From The Case Study?

University of San Andrés’ experience highlights the following key takeaways –

  • All data kept within Salesforce is advantageous for you – When all your data is within one system, everyone works with the same accurate information. You also save considerable time and money by not having your staff juggle between multiple (expensive) third-party tools. 
  • Pick a tool that can match your volumes – Tools like Massmailer are specifically designed to handle large volumes of communication. Choosing the right tool will ensure that you will not have to deal with limitations or performance bottlenecks in the future. 
  • Prioritize Vendor support – A responsive vendor team makes all the difference in your operations. 

One Platform, Endless Communication Possibilities

The ability to communicate effectively is one of the most important aspects of running a university. The key to achieving this is having the right infrastructure in place. If you are already invested in the Salesforce ecosystem, you must look for a system that gives you all these capabilities within it. 

MassMailer is a native Salesforce solution designed to do just that. It extends Salesforce’s native capabilities, allowing you to send unlimited emails, build custom templates, and track all engagement from a single system. 

If your university is facing the same communication woes, book a demo today to see how it can help address them.